Don't Look Back"
by Silvertine
Summary: Tai has been having these horrible dreams... rated PG13 cuz of some more grown-up issues... (no sexual content)


"Don't Look Back"  
By Digigirl  
  
...  
WEEEOW! Here we are! NEW STORY!!! (Another to the many... *groan* )  
~*~  
It was coming.  
  
'No! get away from me! Please!'  
  
He ran. And ran some more.  
  
'NO! Stay away! Please!!!'  
  
Then he tripped. He fell, onto his stomach. A shadow went over him. He knew IT was there,   
staring at him. Laughing silently. Slowly, he turned around never taking his eyes off the   
figure above.  
  
'No..stay away..please..' He whispered. In the figure's hand was a broken beer bottle. It  
glinted in the dull, overhead light, and he watched it with wide eyes. Then suddenly, it came  
crashing down at him-  
  
"NOOOOOOOOO!"  
  
Tai woke up, sweaty, with tears streaming down his cheeks. He gasped for breath, trying to  
breathe normally again. His face was soaked with tears as he swallowed, then slowly breathed  
out, closing his eyes. Tai looked around to make sure no one had seen him. He wiped his eyes  
and sniffled, then lay down again, watching the moon.   
  
It shone above him, so white, bright, and clean. So innocent.  
  
Tai's body began to shake with tears. He felt so horrible...  
~*~  
Yamato Ishida stared as he heard Tai scream out, then sit up, sobbing. Soon the boy had lain  
down again, but Matt wasn't convinced it was still okay. He knew Tai better then that.  
  
Slowly, the blonde headed boy stood up and went over to Tai.   
  
"Tai?" He whispered. Tai turned around, sitting up.  
  
He saw Matt. His eyes widened. His face glinted with tears.  
"Tai...buddy...what's wrong? What's the problem?"  
Tai shook his head, not meeting his friend's quizzical blue eyes.  
  
"You wouldn't understand..."  
  
"Tai, this is the ICE MAN you're talking to. NOTHING shakes me up. NOTHING."  
  
Tai shook his head.  
"Forget it. You wouldn't care."  
  
Matt crossed his arms.  
"WHY wouldn't I care?"  
"BECAUSE you're insensitive. And I just don't feel like talking about it, alright?!"  
Tai snapped.  
Matt stared.  
  
"Bull. Now tell me."  
  
Tai lifted his face, blinking.  
"You have to promise that you won't tell anyone, okay?" He said in a low voice, not meeting  
Matt's eyes.  
"Yeah. Fine. Now spill."  
  
"It all started last week. I've had these dreams...about me. And some guy."  
Matt looked at Tai in horror.  
"Tai, man, it's okay. I'm sure everyone can live with it."  
"Huh?"  
"It's okay. Tai, we can understand. It's alright if you're gay-"  
"WHAT?!"  
"Y-You're gay, aren't you? Isn't that what you meant?"  
  
Tai paled.  
  
"NO!"  
Matt scratched his head, sweatdropping.  
"Eheh! Sorry..."  
Tai rolled his eyes.  
  
"Okay...well...I've been having these dreams about me and this guy-and NO, I am NOT gay. Anyway,  
I would be sitting down somewhere in this house or something, and this tall man comes in...his  
breath smells like...uh...whisky or vodka-some kind of alcoholic drink. And then he...he..."  
Tai broke off, starting to cry again. He squeezed his eyes, his body shaking with sobs.  
Matt reached over and patted Tai's back.  
"Are you okay, buddy?"  
Tai nodded slowly.  
  
"Y-yeah. Well, the guy has this broken bottle, or a board...once he had a chair...and he comes  
after m-me...he...he starts beating me u-up...oh Matt..."  
Matt looked at his friend in concern.  
Did Tai have a past he hadn't been telling them about?  
  
"Tai...did you ever, uh, get beaten in your childhood by your parents or someone?"  
Tai looked up in shock.  
"No! My parents LOVE me, Matt! I've never been abused before...well, besides your stupid jokes  
and taunts...but that's not PHYSICAL abuse."  
Matt snorted.  
"So? I don't get it. You're having these dreams yet you've never been beaten or anything. Well,  
are they like, a premonition?"  
"I don't see HOW. And besides, I've never seen that guy that beats me up, in my entire life!"  
  
Matt shrugged, then froze.  
"Unless..."  
"Unless what?"  
"Tai, just go to sleep. But...I...Tai-in your dream-look at yourself. Can you do it? Can you try  
not to wake yourself up? Can you try and see yourself in the dream? It might just give us a   
clue."  
Tai's eyes widened.  
"There is NO WAY I am going through the dream. It always ends just as the guy is about to hit  
me. I am NOT gonna stay asleep any longer to find out what happens."  
"You have to, Tai. Please."  
Tai closed his eyes, thinking.  
He opened them, and stared at Matt.  
"Alright."  
And he leaned back, and went to sleep.  
~*~  
  
It was coming.  
  
'No! Please!'  
  
It came after him faster.  
  
'Get away from me! NOW!'  
  
He ran with all his might, but was cornered.  
  
The figure laughed harshly, a broken chair in its hands.  
  
'You're so stupid! You're scum! I hate you!'  
  
He cowered, tears streaming down his face.  
  
'N-no...don't touch me...get away...noo...please...'  
  
But the figure snarled, and raised the chair high above his head.  
  
'AHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'  
  
Tai sat up, gulping, and crying again. He took a breath, then heard voices.  
  
"...And he said that some guy was coming after him. Izzy, Joe-I think Tai has been abused in his  
childhood. There's no other reason for the nightmares."  
  
Tai clenched his fists, glaring at the blonde boy talking to two others.  
  
Tai leapt to his feet and ran at Matt, then, without another thought, tackled him to the ground.  
  
"I TOLD YOU! I'VE NEVER BEEN ABUSED IN MY CHILDHOOD!"  
  
The morning sun danced across Tai's brown hair, and glinted off his dark, angry brown eyes.  
Matt let out an angry roar, and turned Tai around, pinning him on the ground.  
"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM, MAN?! YOU NEED HELP!"  
Tai stared at Matt, then broke down, crying again.  
Matt closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, then released Tai.  
"Tai," He said gently, "We KNOW there is something wrong. Don't hide it from us."  
"You don't understand! I HAVEN'T been abused!"  
  
Matt shook his head.  
"Well? Did you see yourself in the dream?" Joe suddenly said, breaking the angry silence.  
Tai shook his head.  
"I woke up before the chair hit me."  
Izzy looked at Tai calculatingly.  
"A chair?"  
"Yeah. The guy tried to hit me with a chair. And he said I was stupid scum, and that he...he  
hated me..."  
~*~  
Sora yawned and stretched, hearing shouting.  
She groaned, and looked at her watch.  
"It's only 6:00AM and they're ALREADY fighting!" She exclaimed to Biyomon, who slept beside her.  
Sora gently shook Mimi, though making sure she didn't wake up TK ad Kari.  
"Mimi! MIMI!" She hissed.  
  
The girl rubbed her light brown eyes.  
"W-what..."  
"Tai! And Matt! They're fighting!"  
Mimi sat up.  
"Already? But it's only-"  
"6:00AM. I know."  
Sora got up slowly, and peered around at their surroundings. They were in a large, pretty  
forest. She sighed, and yawned again.  
"Let's go see what the Two Stooges are up to."  
~*~  
Tai sat on the ground dismally, recalling the dream.  
"You three...please, PLEASE don't tell anyone else. I could KILL Matt for telling you two-Joe  
and Izzy-'cause i trusted him. But no-o, he had to go blab it. Way to go, Einstein."  
Tai snapped.  
Matt glanced at Izzy and Joe.  
"He's hostile. He likes to fight. It's all because of his abusive childhood. He feels that he  
needs to lash out-"  
Tai narrowed his eyes.  
"Will you SHUT UP? I have NEVER been abused, okay?!"  
~*~  
Mimi and Sora walked toward the boys, then Matt's voice lifted up.  
"...all because of his abusive childhood. He feels that he needs to lash out-"  
Tai's voice interrupted.  
"Will you SHUT UP? I have NEVER been abused, okay?!"  
Sora and Mimi exchanged a look. Sora felt something in her. A jab of pain.  
"M-Mimi...we shouldn't eavesdrop. Let's go get some water from the stream, and wash up,alright?"  
Mimi sighed.  
"Fine..."  
~*~  
Tai drew his knees up to his chin.  
"You know what?! Just so Matt will shut his freakin' mouth up, I am going to finish that dream.  
THEN somehow, you'll see I have NEVER been beaten when I was little!"  
Matt narrowed his (incredible-looking ^_^;;) azure eyes.  
"Okay, Tai. You do that. Come on, guys. Tai's going to sleep."  
Tai nodded, going over to a shadowy spot at the base of a tree.  
His eyes slowly closed...  
~*~  
  
It was coming.  
  
'NO! GET AWAY FROM ME! PLEASE!'  
  
'Idiot! You are a useless, worthless IDIOT!'  
  
'Nooo! LEAVE ME ALONE!'  
  
The figure loomed over him.   
  
He went as far into the corner as he could.  
  
It was a bottle, half broken.  
  
He felt the tears coming again. He backed farther into the corner.  
  
The figure laughed, and held the bottle far above.  
  
"WAKE UP!" A voice told him. This was about the time he always woke up.  
  
No.  
  
Resistence.  
  
He would NOT wake up.  
  
The bottle was a raised high, then came down, as if in slow motion.   
  
He looked up, at the bottle. Then he saw it. The reflection.  
  
And he woke up.  
~*~  
"AHHH! MAAAAAATT!" He yelled, gasping. Tai didn't know he could cry as hard as he did just then.  
"M-Maaatt...please..."  
Matt raced over, dropping the fish he had been eating for breakfast.  
Sora and Mimi had caught some, and started a fire. They had eaten breakfast. No one had asked   
why Tai was still sleeping. They just ate. In silence.  
And then Tai yelled.  
"AHHH! MAAAAAATT!"  
And Matt had gotten up.  
The blonde screeched to a halt in front of Tai.  
"TAI! Did you finish the dream?" He exclaimed.  
Tai nodded, his face soaked with sweat and tears.  
"Matt...it...it wasn't...IT WASN'T ME..."  
"What?!"  
Joe and Izzy had come over.  
"Who was it?" Joe asked, pushing his glasses up.  
"Y-You guys will never...will never believe th-this..."  
"So?"  
"I...he came at me with a broken beer bottle. And when it flew down at me, I saw the reflection.  
Guys...it was...it was Sora."  
No one said anything. Only Tai's soft crying could be heard.  
Izzy spoke first.  
"So...this was never about TAI, this was about Sora. She was the person in the dream, but i'm  
guessing Tai was dreaming what she went through, but HIM as Sora..."  
Matt and Joe nodded slowly, in understanding.  
"Tai. I'm sorry. You were never abused, I see now. But that means...Sora was." Matt finished.  
"And she's never told us!" Joe exclaimed.  
Tai stared up at them piercingly.  
  
"I'm not surprised in the slightest. *I* wouldn't tell everyone if that happened to ME. I swear,  
it's a nightmare."  
Tai looked over at Sora, who was talking softly with Mimi.  
He got up slowly.  
"I need to talk to her. ALONE."  
Joe and Izzy quickly walked away, and Matt coughed, saying something about going to piano less-  
ons, then also left swiftly.  
Tai brushed himself off, wiping his eyes, and moving towards the two girls.  
"Sora...can I talk to you?"  
Sora looked up, her eyes wide.  
"Yeah...sure! What about?"  
Tai dragged her into the trees.  
"Listen. I've been having dreams the past week about me getting...beaten up by some guy. But   
this morning, I saw my reflection in his beer bottle. Only, it wasn't me."  
Sora sucked in a breath, looking away.  
"It was you."  
She nodded slowly, tears coming to her eyes.  
"Sora...do you wanna talk about it? This dream has totally scared me, and I can't stand having   
it."  
Sora sat down. Tai followed suit.  
"It was my dad, Tai. You know how I only live with my mom? Well, that's cause my dad was taken  
to jail. For abusing me. He used to come home drunk, every night, when I was little. Then he'd  
tell me-"  
"'You're worthless! You're scum! I hate you!'"  
Tai said. Sora froze.  
"He said that to you in the dream?"  
"Yeah...it really shook me up. And he'd take chairs, and bottles, and throw them at me, and yell  
at me.Dude...it was freaky..."  
Sora nodded.  
"Yes. That's what he'd do. It hurt so much..."  
Tai closed his eyes, reliving the horror.  
"At least he's gone now."  
"But I can never forget." Sora murmured.  
Then Tai sat up.  
"I just thought-why on earth would I be having YOUR dreams? Why?"  
Sora hugged her knees to her chest.  
"I think it was us. Becase we're close friends.."  
Tai smiled slightly.  
"Our kinship? You think that's how?"  
"Yeah. And our Crests. Courage and Love. They're important. See? Those are the emotions we   
wouldn't feel if abused. Courage. Why? Because YOU were scared of him."  
She said, poking Tai in the chest.  
"And Love. Because YOU hated him."  
Tai said, poking her back.  
The two smiled sadly.  
"Well, you never have to worry about him again."  
Sora nodded.  
"I feel so horrible though..."  
Ta placed his hand on her shoulder.  
"Sora-don't look back. What's happened-happened. History is history. Focus on the future. What  
you can be-not what you have been."  
Sora smiled.  
"You're right."  
"As always."  
She frowned.  
"I'm fueling your ego. That is NOT a good thing."  
Tai laughed, and grabbed her hand, pulling her up.  
  
Tai's words echoed in Sora's mind as the two joined the group.  
'Don't look back.'  
Sora smiled to herself, truly happy, for the first time in her life.  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
